Life is Just a Game
by Irretna
Summary: Yu Narukami is aware of the fact that he is a video game. He's known it since... he's missing a lot of memories. Not like that mattered to him. Join Yu as he slowly breaks the game. Who knows what will happen. Updated weekly-biweekly.
1. A new quest

**A/N: I had an idea floating around, and I thought 'What would happen if Yu was aware that he was in a video game? Personally I love these types of things, so I had to try it out.**

* * *

He got on a train. He had no idea where the train was taking him, just that he would get 500 gold once he completed the story quest.

Narukami Yu is aware that is not something a normal human would say, but he knows he is far from normal. He remembers a time when his life wasn't invaded by pop ups and quests. Still, he doesn't know when he became aware of the fact that he was a game. Just a collection of ones and zeros.

In his boredom Yu checked his menu. It was the most interesting thing to do at the time, and it would give him insight on the quest he blindly accepted.

 **Main Menu:**

 **Stats**

 **Party**

 **Characters**

 **Items**

 **Quests**

 **Physical Attacks**

 **Spells**

 **$ &%£€#**

This was strange. Two new tabs had shown up in his menu: Spells and... whatever the blocked one was. Yu quickly brushed this off. New things happened in the game all the time.

It had been roughly two months since he opened the menu last, so he decided to check each tab for changes.

 **Stats:**

 **Level-15**

 **Defense-26 (+10, Bullet prof vest)**

 **Attack-40 (+15, Sharpened Katana)**

 **HP-100/100**

 **SP-50/50**

Yu looked for the description on SP because he had never seen it before.

 **SP-Spirit Points. Used to preform spells.**

You just had to love the game. Short, to-the-point explanations.

 **Party:**

 **You have no members currently in your party. You can check past party members from the Characters tab.**

 **Characters:**

 **You have had no people in your party. {You must be really bad at this game (: }**

Nothing changed in either of those tabs. Though to be honest he didn't really care. People in his party meant people he had to talk to. Talking meant choosing stupid choices the game gave him.

 **Items:**

 **Gold (58,485)**

 **First aid kit (3)**

 **Sharpened Katana (1) -Equipped-**

 **Throwing knives (5)**

 **Bento (1)**

 **Body armor (4)**

 **Bullet prof vest (1) -Equipped-**

 **(Key Items)**

 **Dojima's Note (1)**

 **Bag of gold -reward- (5,000)**

Yu had never seen the item labeled Dojima's Note before, so he tapped the item for more information.

 **Dojima's Note:**

 **Your uncle Dojima's address. He asked you to not lose it.**

After reading the note Yu snorted. He didn't even know he _had_ an uncle. Though he supposed it must have had to do with the 'Story Quest' he accepted. The train suddenly entered a tunnel and his vision turned to black.

* * *

Yu woke to the gentle rumbling of a car. His eyes were met with quite the sight when he opened them. It seemed like he was transported during his slumber. He did not recall how he got here, so after a few moments of deliberation, he decided he must be in a dream.

The limousine was covered in a beautiful blue that transitioned from light to dark shades in the matter of a few seconds. This gave the carriage an ethereal air. His chair looked to be hand carved, and a strange material covered the cushion and backrest. Seats were covered in a strange velvety fabric very much like his own chair's. To either side of the small limousine where cabinets holding various alcoholic drinks that he was definitely too young for. Finally, in the front of the car was a beautiful mahogany table with a deck of tarot cards sitting patiently on the side. Behind the large table sat two people.

Yu looked above their heads to find their levels only to discover he couldn't see their levels. This was strange. He was usually able to see everyone's level just from a glance.

The one with the blonde hair, far more beautiful than the other, lifted her head in greeting as she spoke, "Greetings, welcome to the Velvet Room." she giggled playfully at his confusion.

Next, the long-nosed freak jutted out his nose and spoke with a smirk and crazy eyes, "Ah, it seems we have a guest with an interesting destiny," he stopped so he could chuckle, "My name is Igor and I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who have signed a 'contract' may enter. This may very well happen to you in the near future."

Igor then asked Yu for his name. He quickly responded, "Narukami Yu." He started to go off on some tangent about Yu's future, but Yu just ignored him most of the time. The only parts Yu picked out from it were: Tower, Hesitation, and Mystery. After a long while of Igor's speaking, Yu just interrupted him and asked if he could leave. Igor hesitated, but finally allowed Yu to fall back into the slumber that would lead him home.

* * *

Yu jolted awake on the train. His menu was still open, and he was about to check the rest of his tabs when a speaker announced that they were almost in Yasoinaba. Normally Yu would've ignored this, but pop ups were invading his vision practically screeching, 'get off the damn train!' So he did.

Stepping out into the bright sunlight, Yu's navigation system started moving. He called it a navigation system, but in reality it was just an arrow that told him where to go so he could complete a quest. The arrow led him to an old man with a young girl clinging to him.

"Over here!" The man yelled when he got closer, "You must be Narukami-san. You look even more handsome in real life than in your picture."

' _The weird man knows my name. Why does he know my name? Is he stalker? I bet he's going to molest me._ ' Yu thought. Now he was really starting to regret accepting this quest.

"I'm Ryotaro Dojima, and this," he gestured to the girl behind him, "is my daughter Nanako."

After short introductions Dojima loaded them all into his car. Yu felt like an outsider, watching them talk. Quickly he checked for their levels. Nanako was level 2, as expected. Dojima however... he was a beast. Level 30. Yu felt weak.

A welcome distraction came when Nanako announced that she had to go to the bathroom. Dojima went to buy more cigarettes at the store they stopped at while Nanako relived herself.

Standing still was boring, so Yu decided to talk to someone. That someone happened to be the gas station attendant that was filling up their tank. While exchanging hellos Yu found no level above the attendant's head either. It was just like the Velvet Room attendants. Yu decided it must just be a glitch in the system (he didn't even think he was real anymore) and ignored it until he shook the man's hand.

The world turned into a stream of endless colour, and error messages popped into existence all over his vision. His body felt like it was slipping back into the ones and zeros he assumed it was made of. He bumped into something, but he couldn't _see._ His eyes were utterly useless when the world was made of flashing colours and most of his vision was blocked by error messages. Stretching out his arms to grab onto something to steady himself, he realized he couldn't feel his hands. When he finally deleted all the error messages, the world's colour had inverted. The ground looked like a white heaven ready to catch him, but the orange sky was hellish. The feeling in his legs was long gone, so he did what was natural at that point. He fell. And boy did the ground feel good.

* * *

Dojima was just leaving the shop with Nanako when he saw it happen. Yu was talking politely with the attendant and then suddenly the boy asked Yu to shake his hand. He was probably just being polite and saying good bye, but after what happened next Dojima didn't really care. When they finally stopped what seemed to be an eternity of handshaking, Yu stumbled. He bumped into the car, but it seemed like he couldn't see because his eyes wandered everywhere.

They were only two feet away. He had only met this kid once (when he was a baby), but he still felt strongly connected to Yu.

Next, Yu reached out with his arms, but he didn't seem able to grasp anything. Yu took a few steps away from their car and promptly collapsed. Dojima dropped his bag holding takeout and dashed over to Yu. He lifted his head up and searched for any damage on his head. When he found only a small bump he was satisfied and looked at Yu to see if he was awake. Yes, he was infact awake, but he only had a dopey smile on his face and a relived look in his eyes.

He got Yu into the car with Nanako's help, so they could bring him home. As they lay Yu across the seat, he told Nanako to keep an eye on him.

From inside the car Nanako could see her dad marching up angrily to the gas station attendant. "What did you do to him!" Even through the hard glass she could still hear him clearly.

"Dad is mad. Should I be mad too?" she asked her half asleep cousin.

* * *

"..ad... mad...I...too?"

Mad. Someone was mad. Did he make _them_ mad again? He continued to have these thoughts until an impossibly loud noise startled him.

"Sorr...nako...just worried...Yu."

That voice was familiar. He thought it might be Dojima's but what did he know? It could be _Santa Clause._ He continued to listen to the broken conversation.

"..d...hur...home..."

"...will he...al..."

Their words went on and on until a voice rang clear through his head drowning out the others' voices.

' ** _I art thou, thou art I. Open the door. I beg the.'_**

' _Well, this is new.'_


	2. A strange encounter

**A/N: Thank you for reading this. I honestly don't think I'm that good at writing, so if you made it chapter two... WOWIE! Tbh I'm probably way behind schedule on posting it. I dunno, who knows? Not me evidentially!**

 **Reviewer Time!**

 **CCRA: Thank you so much. I also feel like this fic is going to be very different from your typical game AU. When I read your review I actually squealed. Like a pig.**

 **Onto the material!**

* * *

 **Game load:**

 **486,900 hours**

 **5 deaths**

 **Location- Dojima's Car**

Yu jolted awake. He tried to lift his head, but Dojima's sharp yell swiftly halted those actions.

"Don't move. I don't want you to hurt yourself again." Dojima's voice got quieter with each word.

The tenderness at the end of that sentence surprised Yu. He expected Dojima to be cold to him because he was invading his home for a year.

But despite his surprise, he stayed put. Dojima turned on the radio. Just before the soft music lulled him into a deep sleep, a ringing invaded his ears. It grew until a voice came out of the meaningless noise.

 ** _'Are you alright master? I fear for your safety.'_**

And now he had weird voices pounding in his skull. Why couldn't he just move somewhere where everything was normal? First the Osaka incident, then the... He refused to think of that year.

 ** _'Master? Is there something that ales you? Why do you not reply? Master. Master! MASTER ANSWER ME NOW!'_**

The voice split his head in two. A loud groan erupted from his mouth causing Dojima to turn back sharply.

"Is there something wrong?" Part of him was dying from worry and another thought the kid might be playing up the pain.

"I'm perfectly fine, thanks for asking," Yu replied sarcastically, "I just wish it wasn't so loud." and with that Yu promptly rolled on his side and closed his eyes. He was acting like your typical pissy teenager.

Dojima decided to ignore him in favor of watching the road.

While Yu was lamenting in pain and the embarrassment of acting weak in front of his uncle, his persona's consciousness was racing.*

* * *

Izanagi had just woken up, and the next thing he knew his master was injured.** He knew he was being a mother-hen to the extreme, but he was stuck in Yu's mind and couldn't see how bad his injuries were. His jacket fluttered as he went to sit down. And there Izanagi sat, asking Yu questions. Questions he feared would never be answered.

The place Izangi now lived in was quite drab. Yu's mind was literally just a gray cube. It looked like his master had no personality at all.

Izanagi was just glad that he at least got to have pretty cool clothes. Just because he was a persona doesn't mean that he couldn't have a sense of fashion.

 ** _'Master? You have not answered me yet. Is there something wrong with you?'_** his question was much more calm than his previous attempts at calling out.

He almost gave up on his master responding when, _'It's not very nice to ask someone if something is wrong with them.'_

From behind his mask a genuine smile appeared.

* * *

Dojima's car ride home had been hellish. The voice in his head kept getting louder and louder, and why did it call him _master_? When they finally got to the house after an eon of driving, Yu almost didn't get up. He knew he'd have a wicked head rush if he did, and he just wasn't up for that. After a small struggle he made it inside the small house.

The mud room opened into a kitchen that looked over a warm living space. There was a TV in the corner, and a brown sofa sat along the left wall. Yu began to make his way to the table where some food was situated only to be intercepted by Dojima.

"You look tired. Why don't you just settle in upstairs? If you want I can get you food later." a smile tugged at Dojima's lips. For a level 30 beast, he was pretty gentle.

"Thank you Dojima-san. I think I'll take you up on the offer."

Yu slowly pulled himself up the stairs. His body felt like lead, and his pounding headache was not helping with anything. He barely mangled to lift his right foot enough for him to clear the last step. From that point on he just shuffled his feet along the floor.

His room was rather bare. It looked like it had been a storage room in a past life as there were many shelves. Boxes were pilled up near the window, but the saving grace of the room was the futon. The futon was a little old and looked like it had been covered in dust until recently, but it was a place to sleep.

 ** _'Master? You have not answered me yet. Is there something wrong with you?'_**

It wasn't phrased like an insult, but Yu took it as one anyway. He stood up straighter as he replied in a determined voice, "It's not very nice to ask someone if something is wrong with them."

He said nothing more and he didn't even say it nicely but he could practically _feel_ the happiness the being exuded.

 **-Achievement Get: Talk to Yourself-**

The pop up reminded him that no one else could hear the voice.

"Fuck..." he murmured into his hand.

If Nanako or Dojima herd that they'd definitely think he was crazy. Hell, one could say he already was. He sat down cross-legged on the futon. Yu reached over to one of the closer boxes and began to unpack it. He continued on until there was only one full box left. As he stepped backwards to admire his work, he bumped into the dresser behind him. He turned around quickly to catch any falling objects. Luckily there was only a TV on the top so he only had to stable one item.

When he placed his hands around the machine two of his fingers pressed on the screen. Or they would have if they didn't slip through said screen. It was almost unnoticeable, just a small suction on his fingers. There was very little resistance when he pulled his fingers back into his world. Curiosity took over as he rounded the slowly sank his fingers into the screen. The sensation stayed the same until he felt a pull. Something was pulling on his hand from the other side.

The room seemed to turn blue. His breathing picked up as he tried to pull his hand back. Yu put his other hand on the side of the TV so he could start to pull it out, but he suddenly felt something else pull him back. The thing held him a foot in the air as if it was afraid of what would happen if it put him down. The being could be deemed frightening with the large metal mask covering it's face and those long nails that were beginning to look more and more like claws. Still, it looked familiar. Like a faded dream you only just remembered. Yu could feel himself beginning to hyperventilate and his vision began to fade.

 _'I'm fainting a lot today, aren't I?"_ The idea must have been very funny to him because he began an uncontrollable laugh. His eyes glazed over as the lack of oxygen knocked him out. Yu's breathing evened out by the time Izanagi got him on his futon.

Izanagi now understood why his master was in so much pain. He had been forcefully awakened by someone and it was very taxing on his master. The persona had no idea how he had been summoned into the material world, but he had no time to dwell on the subject as he broke into millions of bright blue particles that slowly floated around the room. One by one they made their way back into Yu.

* * *

Yu woke up. Or he thought he did until he realized that he was standing on a floating path was a katana in his hand. It was different from his Sharpened Katana and as he went to check it's stats he found that couldn't. He then tried to open his menu. Another fail.

 _'How far will I get in here without the ability to open my menu?'_ He knew this was no ordinary dream. It was probably going to be just like reality because he never had dreams with no reason. The last time he had a dream like this was during... _that_ incident.

He shook all unwanted thoughts out of his head and began to walk down the path. As he progressed, it twisted and turned. If not for the fog he would be able to make some sense of where he was going. After a year of walking, a barley visible door could be seen in the distance. Yu rushed towards it and it opened around him. The red bricks fell away to reveal a circular room filled with fog. It was thicker than before but he had nowhere to go but forward. As he took his first step, a gentle beeping alerted him to the fact that there was a hostile mob somewhere in the room.

He started looking for it when a voice spoke, **"Do you wish to find the truth?"**

Yu swiped at the silhouette of the mob. It looked very human like. He felt his katana meet with resistance, a sure sign he hit his target. However, as soon as he went in for a second strike, he was pushed back violently. Yu stumbled and searched for his footing when the second attack came.

 **"If you want to find the truth you mush defeat me first!"** The voice was filled with glee at it's last words and it laughed. It laughed as it punched him again and again in the gut. Yu cried out as another fist hit him which only made the crazy mob laugh more.

There were no openings for him to counterattack. The only thing he knew for the next few minutes was the relentless rain of punches from all sides. Yu never moved much, just a stumble here or there, but the mob obviously wanted more. Yu could practically see the boredom on their face. Slowly the punches let up and Yu tumbled to the ground. He tried to get up, but all his muscles battled against him. Still, he tried.

Monster started to fade away, either the fog was getting denser or it was moving further away. Maybe both. **"We'll meet again, _hero._ "** it sneered at the last word.

Again and again Yu struggled to get up. He had just mad it to his to his feet when a hand dove into his chest. It appeared on the other side of his body caked in Yu's blood. Yu could hear the alarm bells going off in his head signaling low health.

 _'As if I didn't already know that. Stupid game.'_ His eyes traveled upwards to the foggy ceiling and he laughed at his own bad luck. The laugh became a gurgle as blood came up his throat. The hand slowly receded leaving a large hole in Yu's chest. As his body fell he landed face down on red brick. He heard a large crack that told him he broke his nose. His laugh became a gurgle again when he forced himself on his back.

He just lay there, gurgling, waiting to die when his world was filled with an ocean of blue sparks.

* * *

 *** Because personas are part of a person's mind I will never say that the they have minds of their own.**

 **** I'm going to give (most) personas genders because it is annoying to call them 'it' all the time. At least you can type 'he, his, himself, and [name]' if you give them a gender.**

 **Not a lot of game things Ina this chapter, but I did introduce some new game mechanics, so that counts for something, right?**

 **Have a good day.**

 **-Irretna**


End file.
